Scholar Profiles
Top choices: Key online profile tools and resources
These first options are your best bet for getting started in building an online presence. They are free, easy to use, immediately connect you with other researchers, and require very little effort to maintain.
ORCID
Create a free, persistent digital identifier that reliably connects you to your work across jobs, institutions, and systems. ORCID is increasingly required by publishers, funders, and research platforms. It reduces repetitive data entry by linking with trusted sources like Scopus, Crossref, and PubMed to update your record automatically. You control what’s shared and can showcase a wide range of contributions beyond publications.
ORCID: Scholar Identity & Visibility
Google Scholar
Automatically populate your publication list and see citation counts, as well as your personal impact with h-index and i10-index counts. Plus, your profile tracks your impact over time.
Learn moreResearchGate
Part online profile and part social networking tool: you can list your scholarly contributions and participate in community discussions on important topics in your field. Also provides view counts, helping you track impact.
Learn moreWhy you should care about your online presence
Elevate your research impact through a strategic online presence.
Creating and maintaining a professional online presence is an important part of building your research profile. It can enhance your academic outreach by increasing the visibility of your publications, showcasing your credentials, and attracting funding or collaborators. It also helps broaden your reach—making your work discoverable and usable not only by other scholars, but also by practitioners, policymakers, students, and community audiences. Online profiles can support recognition for the full range of your scholarly contributions, not just publications.
Key benefits:
- Enhanced visibility: Increase the discoverability of your research outputs.
- Strengthened credibility: Present a curated, professional showcase of your credentials, publications, projects, and contributions, fostering trust and demonstrating authority.
- Expanded reach: Facilitate connections and knowledge exchange within and beyond academia, engaging practitioners, policymakers, educators, community groups, and the public who can utilize and build upon your research.
Enhancing your presence
These tools take a bit more time to set up but are worth exploring after you’ve created a basic profile (e.g., ORCID or Google Scholar). They help you build your academic identity, connect with peers, and track impact across platforms.
Tip: Start with ORCID as your central hub, then connect it with tools like Scopus, Kudos, Web of Science, and Altmetric to improve discoverability and streamline tracking.
Build Your Professional Presence
Newer decentralised platforms
Tip: Mastodon = topic-based communities. Bluesky = simple feed and broad reach.
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MastodonA decentralized platform where many researchers connect through academic servers like scholar.social.
Mastodon Quick Guide for Researchers (PDF) -
BlueskyA growing platform for open, Twitter-style conversations. Easier to join, good for academic networking.
Track and Promote Your Research
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Scopus Researcher ProfileClaim and update your profile to track publications, citations, h-index, and co-author networks.
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KudosPromote your work, explain it in accessible language, and measure reach.
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Altmetric Free ToolsUse bookmarklets and badges to highlight attention from news, policy, and social media.
Tip: Add Altmetric badges to your personal webpage or CV to highlight where your work is being discussed.
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Web of Science Researcher ProfileCreate a free profile to track publications, reviews, and citations (WoS content only). MRU does not subscribe.
Learn more about free vs. entitled access to Web of Science Researcher Profiles
Note: Includes ResearcherID and formerly known as Publons. -
ImpactstoryTrack social media and news attention to your research outputs. Note: requires Twitter/X or ORCID login.
Manage Your References and Collaborate
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ZoteroCollaborate through shared libraries and manage your citations. Search MRU Library Help for Zotero
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MendeleyManage and share reference lists with other researchers. Search MRU Library Help for Mendeley
Publishing and Contributor Recognition
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CRediTUse a standardized taxonomy to describe your specific contributions to scholarly outputs. View MRU Library FAQ
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ScholasticaSupports Open Access publishing by connecting authors with journals and reviewers.
Search and Discovery Tools
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OpenAlex This link opens in a new windowA free, open index of global research outputs (articles, books, datasets). Includes more open access content than many commercial databases.
OpenAlex help.
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DimensionsExplore research outputs, citations, and altmetrics.
Note: MRU does not subscribe to Dimensions Plus—free version only.
Learn more about the Dimensions Free Version
Why use social media?
Social media is one of the easiest—and often most effective—ways to promote your research and communicate its impact within and beyond academia. A professional social media presence should be active and engaging, involving an ongoing commitment to:
- Sharing your research with a wider audience, including non-academic communities
- Networking, collaborating, or following other researchers and organizations
- Taking control of your professional message and building your scholarly reputation
- Making your work more findable and increasing your openness to collaboration
Whether you prefer platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, Mastodon, Bluesky, or academic blogs such as Wordpress, social media offers opportunities to document your research, build networks, and extend the reach of your work to new audiences.
